McDonald's Baltimore beating

[cassiesmom]

I heard about this on news radio last night and it made me sick. Two teen girls age 14 and 18 assaulted a 22 year old customer at a McDonald's in the Baltimore area. The 22 year old is transgender and was apparently beaten for using the ladies' washroom. The reporter said the teen girls were warned off first by a restaurant manager and then by a lady customer, but both times they came back. A McDonald's employee recorded the whole incident on his smart phone. The victim started convulsing and that's when the two teens finally gave it up.

My questions are: Why didn't the McDonald's employee use his cell phone to call 911? Weren't there any other employees who could have intervened on the victim's behalf? What about other customers? The news radio station (WGN, Chicago) said McDonald's has a corporate policy of not getting involved in such situations. Whether that's true or not, I don't know. They're defining it as a hate crime. What's happening to people nowadays?

I bet the actions of bystanders might have been very different had it been two men doing the assaulting and a FTM victim.

Here's a link but it contains the actual video, which is pretty graphic.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/04/23/2011-04-23_mcdonalds_beating_video_employee_who_filmed_bru tal_attack_fired_owner_tells_news.html

[Pinot's Mom]

I know this case. It happened in Baltimore(not home, but not far away, I work in Baltimore); not proud of this incident obviously. One of the teens evidently has done this before in this same McDonalds. How horribly sick and sad a fourteen year old (and who knows when the first incident was) can harbor this much hate and violence toward anyone at all.

I didn't look at the link as I've seen a lot of footage. I just can't fathom that level of rage.:(

[wombat2u2004]

Hmm, yeah. He got one beating from those gals.
So where does the issue stand tho, given that it was a male in the ladies washroom ???

[Medusa]

Whether or not the McDonald's employee was allowed to get actively involved doesn't explain why 911 wasn't called. The entire thing is sickening. Hate crime? Is there such a thing as a love crime? B/c it was perpetrated on a transgender person, does that make it any more or less violent? Some of the places that I used to frequent w/girlfriends I no longer go to b/c young girls wait in the restrooms for just such a reason, to jump and beat up unsuspecting women. I can still defend myself, thank goodness for kickboxing classes, but I'm not as quick as I used to be and if there are several against one or even two against one, then I'd probably be in trouble. This has been going on for years and it isn't a "hate crime" issue, that is, they're not selective as to whom they pick on. Everyone is fair game.

Rest rooms now need to be monitored w/security and most establishments probably won't do that b/c it costs money. (And this took place in a MacDonald's, not even in a bar!) Never mind the money they've lost due to loss of business. I used to go to Working Women's Wednesday every week not to drink but just to meet up w/girlfriends, unwind, dance a little and go home. Those days are gone. The punk girls have taken over and the managers/owners have allowed it. It's a shame but it isn't going to end any time soon, I'm afraid.

[moosmom]

The punk girls have taken over and the managers/owners have allowed it. It's a shame but it isn't going to end any time soon, I'm afraid.

Mary, you just summed it up perfectly!!!! Problem is, if you have to have cameras in the restrooms for people's safety, they cry "civil rights violation".

Where the heck were these kids' parents anyways?????

[Medusa]

Well, I wan't talking about cameras. They need to have a live police officer there.

[Bonny]

Well, I wan't talking about cameras. They need to have a live police officer there.

A live police officer with a stun gun. Those two women kept coming back & were as strong as oxes. They are jail bait for sure.

[Catherinedana]

Hmm, yeah. He got one beating from those gals.
So where does the issue stand tho, given that it was a male in the ladies washroom ???


Please tell me that you don't really believe that someone should be beaten into convulsions because they are transgendered?

[Cataholic]

Let's presume for a moment that there is some rule that says employees are prohibited from being involved. At what point does your inner being recognize that you are a person first, THEN an employee? I simply could not stand there and do nothing. I know others could, as I have seen news reports of live footage, and people stand around and do nothing.

Sad.

[wombat2u2004]

Please tell me that you don't really believe that someone should be beaten into convulsions because they are transgendered?

No of course not. I'm assuming that the transgender was male.
What I'm saying is, why was a male in the womens restroom ????

[IRescue452]

I watched the video so let me answers some comments.

The transgendered human being was dressed as and looked female. Who knows if she was post-op or not? If post op then she was fully female. Before you can receive permanent surgury for gender change it is often required that you live as that gender for a certain number of months.

The restaurant was pretty empty except for an older lady who stopped the girls and yelled at them for a while before giving up and leaving.

The police were called by somebody or at least the workers told the girls police were coming.

A few of the workers got the girls (attackers) off this person several times and and soon as they thought it was over and the girls were leaving, the girls would bolt back over and start kicking and beating again.

I'm sure the almost nervous giggling heard by the male workers was just a reaction to what looked like a nasty cat fight. It looked like an area of the country I wouldn't want to live in. These guys have probably witnesses tons of girls dressed like tramps getting into cat fights. They may not have thought much of it at the time but they were yelling stop and trying to intervene through the whole video.

Its a terrible thing to happen but its clear that what I'm reading and what I saw on the video are two different things.

In the video of the victim on the news she looks like she's completed the process of gender change and does look a lot like a woman. She said one of the girls initially started the fight saying the victim was trying to "talk to her man". I'm wondering if this was a hate crime at all. Did they know this was a transgendered woman? Or was it just simply a fight over some crazed whore defending "her man"?

To be honest I'm getting the feeling it was just a brutal assault by some ghetto girls who were raised in a nasty, violent part of the country and it had nothing to do with the victim being transgendered.

[Catherinedana]

If s/he was transgender, then s/he wasn't male anymore. And if s/he was living as female and still had male parts, I'm sure s/he wasn't in the washroom flashing them about. The whole idea is to live as a woman. This isn't about sex and sexuality, it's about gender and identity, which no one should be judge on OR beaten for.

From reading the other posts (Medusa's esp.) it wouldn't have taken much for the girly-thugs to come up with some sort of excuse to beat anyone who had walked into that restroom. They just hit the jackpot here because there are some folks who will justify what they did because of lack of tolerance. That hurts my heart.

[Catherinedana]

I just watched the video. It was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen. Filming this poor person, no one helping. This was a disgrace. I'm ashamed to be part of the human race.

I better not see ANYONE on this website justify this beating for ANY reason!!! Abomination and sickening.

[Taz_Zoee]

I also watched the video (but without sound). I don't care what gender, color or sexual preference the person was.....they did not deserve to be beaten like this person was. There were employees (a manager and a regular employee) that broke it up several times. Then the customer that got involved...the victim grabbed on to her leg for help. That is so sad. Then the victim begins convulsing, after being dragged (by her hair) from the bathroom to the door at the front of the place.

I hope this video helps them identify those girls and they are punished. I didn't read if they did arrest the girls or not.

[Taz_Zoee]

I just watched the video. It was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen. Filming this poor person, no one helping. This was a disgrace. I'm ashamed to be part of the human race.

I better not see ANYONE on this website justify this beating for ANY reason!!! Abomination and sickening.

What do you mean "no one helping"? I saw several people step in and get the girls off of her numerous times. I don't know what more they could have done (other than start beating the crap out of the girls, then they would be as bad as those little punks). And we don't know who (or when) anyone called 911. Sure the guy filming the video was a jerk..but there were lots of people there. Several that did step in and several more that could (and must have) called 911. The only people to blame in this incident are those two girls.

What would you have done if you were there? I know I would have called 911 if someone else hadn't already. Otherwise, I wouldn't have tried to step in for fear of them turning around and punching or kicking me.

[Catherinedana]

She was sitting there holding herself after the girls backed off each time. . .sitting there ALONE!! Me, I would have been there with her. So would my husband, my family members, the members of my church and friends. She would NOT have been sitting there on the floor alone to wait for the girls to come back or whatever help was "supposed" to be coming. I've been is a situation like this, although not as horrible. Myself and another person took care of the person who had been hit while others blocked the man who hit her so he couldn't get her again.

THAT'S what I mean by HELPING!!

[IRescue452]

I'm not defending any of the onlookers or attackers because this WAS a brutal assault. However, I need to hear a comment about gender to believe this attack was motivated by hate crime. In one news report they said the boyfriend hit on the victim. Obviously he must have thought she was a she. Did anybody in the restaurant know she was transgendered? That's what I want to find out because if not, this was not a hate crime based on gender.

It could have been a race hate crime though. Black trash thinks how dare this white trash talk to my man?

[Taz_Zoee]

THAT'S what I mean by HELPING!!

Ok, just asking a question. No need to get upset. This is why I usually don't even post in threads that are in the Dog House. I should have not broken that trend. :(

[cassiesmom]

Please tell me that you don't really believe that someone should be beaten into convulsions because they are transgendered?

I don't know anyone who's dealt with gender issues. But what the heck is this person supposed to do? Are they supposed to use the restroom that matches their anatomical gender, or the one that matches how they look on the outside? At church we have a "family washroom" that allows a mother to take a little boy to the washroom without having to take him into the ladies' room. It was designed for wheelchair accessibility, which the regular washrooms weren't (they were retrofitted and are accessible but it's not perfect). Maybe that would be easier for a transgender person than a traditional ladies' room.

[wombat2u2004]

If s/he was transgender, then s/he wasn't male anymore. And if s/he was living as female and still had male parts, I'm sure s/he wasn't in the washroom flashing them about. The whole idea is to live as a woman. This isn't about sex and sexuality, it's about gender and identity, which no one should be judge on OR beaten for.


No. That is only an assumption. How can you be sure that this person wasn't in the washroom flashing them about ??? How can you be sure that this person was complete as a transgender ??? Just because he says he's transgender, and dresses in that manner means nothing.
We don't have enuf info here.
Correct me if I'm wrong here.....but in that movie I seen what appeared to be hair on the floor during that fight, as the victim was being dragged along.
Was this the victims hair that was pulled out ?? Or was it part of a wig ??
And if it was part of a wig, why a wig ??? If the man is seriously a transgender, then why a wig ??

There are too many unanswered questions here. We just don't know what really went down. As Mary said, yeah, those girls could have been troublemakers, but they also could have been victims once themselves, or their siblings, kids whatever, could have been molested at a young age by a man in a womens restroom dressed as a woman ??? Possible ??? Or impossible ???

Maybe Elyse has the right solution, let them go into a family washroom.

I don't condone what happened, I don't like to watch anyone get beat up, but I'd like to know what really went down. That way we all could come up with some substantial opinions.

[Alysser]

I recently learned in my AP Psych course of something called the "Bystander effect" where people pass up something like this because they assume that someone else will step in, it isn't their business, etc. They did several experiments, one where a girl was screaming that she was being kidnapped (it was fake, obviously) everytime someone passed by and it took hours for people to finally intervene. It really was terrible.

Would I have video-taped it? Of course not. Would I have intervened had I been there? I can't really say. I don't want to say I would have because I simply don't know. Of course it is a horrific act, and but I try not to say what I'd do, since I was never in the situation.

I don't think it's a matter of what restroom this person used, because frankly, I think it happened just because said victim was a transgender. I don't care what bathroom he/she was in, it doesn't justify what happened by any means.

Although, Wom, I totally see where you are coming from. Perhaps we will never know...but I feel as that if he really was flashing them, being inappropriate, etc we would know this by now. It STILL doesn't justify the beating when they could have simply come out of the restroom and told the manager. The cops would have come and arrested him..simple as that. There was no need for the way they acted. I know you don't condone it, I'm just saying.

[blue]

I recently learned in my AP Psych course of something called the "Bystander effect".

Also known as Liberalism.

[Karen]

Also known as Liberalism.

This is completely wrong. Remember, I live in that bastion of Liberalism, Massachusetts, and I know many Liberals who would step in. I also know Conservatives who wouldn't. One's political beliefs have little bearing on this situation.

[blue]

This is completely wrong.

No, it isnt.

[IRescue452]

Ok, time to lock this thread me thinks. The facts will be revealed in court soon enough and we'll see if there's justice for a brutal beating of a human being regardless of their gender. Clearly it can't be looked at in a civil manner anymore in this forum.

[wombat2u2004]

Ok, time to lock this thread me thinks. The facts will be revealed in court soon enough and we'll see if there's justice for a brutal beating of a human being regardless of their gender. Clearly it can't be looked at in a civil manner anymore in this forum.

?????????????????????????
Nobody is arguing.
All the posts I've read so far are ok, and we do all have our own opinions. ;)

[Medusa]

In regards to the "bystander effect", when I was a teenager, my girlfriend and I were walking in a different neighborhood at night, intending to visit my sister. Out of nowhere, two girls came up to us and I think they asked us a question but I honestly can't remember clearly. What I do remember is that they started beating on my girlfriend. Why they didn't pick on me, I have no idea. What did I do? I froze. Like a deer in headlights, I froze. It lasted only a few seconds and the girls ran off. My girlfriend said "Why didn't you help me???" and I had no answer for her. Somehow it was as though it was a movie or something that I was viewing but wasn't a part of. Of course, this is all hindsight now. The good that came out of it was that it made me more aware of my surroundings and I vowed that I would never stand by and watch something like that happen again. I can only hope that I don't freeze up again should another scene like that unfold.

[Bonny]

The next question is who is going to sue who? Will Mc Donalds be held liable for not doing anything to help the victim? Will the two women have to pay out for the mental & bodily harm they caused? Is the victim really a victim? Maybe there is more that went on in that bathroom that no one knows about & it will be here say from all parties involved.

[Pinot's Mom]

As the resident "local" in this case, I'm going to pop back in here - quickly.

Fact one is this 14 year old has been accused of this same action in this same place more than once.

Fact two is it matters not whether the victim was transgender, gay, straight, black, white, male, female, fat, thin or purple.

Fact three is there is no excuse for this action. Period.

Fact four: that kid needs serious treatment.

I'm done, except to add this - East Baltimore is a very odd place. I don't go there.

[wombat2u2004]

In regards to the "bystander effect", when I was a teenager, my girlfriend and I were walking in a different neighborhood at night, intending to visit my sister. Out of nowhere, two girls came up to us and I think they asked us a question but I honestly can't remember clearly. What I do remember is that they started beating on my girlfriend. Why they didn't pick on me, I have no idea. What did I do? I froze. Like a deer in headlights, I froze. It lasted only a few seconds and the girls ran off. My girlfriend said "Why didn't you help me???" and I had no answer for her. Somehow it was as though it was a movie or something that I was viewing but wasn't a part of. Of course, this is all hindsight now. The good that came out of it was that it made me more aware of my surroundings and I vowed that I would never stand by and watch something like that happen again. I can only hope that I don't freeze up again should another scene like that unfold.

Fight...Flight...Freeze Response
The response or reaction of an animal to a situation perceived as a threat to its survival, which involves physiological changes in the animal body through the action of the sympathetic nervous system, priming the animal to deal with danger by staying, fighting or running away.

This concept was first described by Walter Cannon in his theory called Cannon's theory in 1929. Based on his theory, in the presence of a threatening stimulus, a part of the brain regulates the metabolic and autonomic functions to prepare the muscles for any subsequent violent action, i.e. to either run away or fight. Example of an autonomic reaction is the increased release of adrenaline in the body and some of the physical manifestations include increased blood pressure and heart rate (as a result of higher concentrations of adrenaline in the body).

[IRescue452]

To add another fact to this topic for people who haven't watched the video:

I do not believe the victim went into the bathroom. She was assaulted at the outside of the girl's bathroom door when trying to walk in. At least it looked to me in the beginning to the video like she was going to walk into the bathroom, not coming out of it. I don't think anything went on behind the scenes inside the bathroom because she wasn't in there yet.

[Catherinedana]

Also known as Liberalism.

Major BS statement. I'm the most Liberal person you will ever meet and I would never just stand by and let something like this happen or not step in where I was needed.

Generalizations like that are ridiculous.

I'm thinking that I should have stuck to the Pet part of this website like I usually do. I apparently don't play well with others.

Bye bye

[wombat2u2004]

To add another fact to this topic for people who haven't watched the video:

I do not believe the victim went into the bathroom. She was assaulted at the outside of the girl's bathroom door when trying to walk in. At least it looked to me in the beginning to the video like she was going to walk into the bathroom, not coming out of it. I don't think anything went on behind the scenes inside the bathroom because she wasn't in there yet.

Yes, I thought that to when I watched the vid, it all happened on the outside. But didn't the news article say she had been in the bathroom, and that is where the altercation started ??? Maybe the media got it wrong, wouldn't be the first time.

[wombat2u2004]

Also known as Liberalism.

What on earth has this matter to do with politics blue ???
You need to take that red/white/blue hat off old mate.

[caseysmom]

Major BS statement. I'm the most Liberal person you will ever meet and I would never just stand by and let something like this happen or not step in where I was needed.

Generalizations like that are ridiculous.

I'm thinking that I should have stuck to the Pet part of this website like I usually do. I apparently don't play well with others.

Bye bye

Your not the one not playing well....you are adding intelligent posts, I always enjoy reading your thoughts.

[cassiesmom]

Since when is it ever okay to beat up someone inside McDonald's?? What is happening nowadays?